According to FiveThirtyEight, the popularity of Covid vaccination mandates is now increasing (probably in response to the Delta variant). These mandates can come from the hospitality industry, such as bars and restaurants that allow only vaccinated people to enter, employers who require their employees to be vaccinated, schools or universities, or even from federal or state governments.
According to a recent poll, 64% of Americans approve of the government mandating that everyone get vaccinated.
As you might expect, most of the support for mandates comes from people who have already been vaccinated. After all, if you trust the vaccines, and have seen the news that virtually all new Covid cases are happening among the unvaccinated, then of course you want other people to get vaccinated. In fact, right now a fully vaccinated person has a higher probability of getting accidentally electrocuted, than of developing severe coronavirus symptoms.
But here’s the irony: 28% of unvaccinated Americans support mandatory vaccination. How could this be?
- You want to get vaccinated, but your spouse or (if young) your parents won’t let you. You want someone to help!
- Your friends are anti-vaxxers, and you don’t dare cross them.
- Like a lemming, if everyone has to, then that will convince you.
Does anyone have any other good ideas? I can’t figure this out!
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Another possibility:
If something goes wrong with the vaccine that the government forced you to take, it’s more likely that there will be some form of compensation from the government.
Keep in mind that the “Emergency Authorization” also means that if something bad happens due to a bad batch of the vaccine or something else, you can’t sue.
Some of that 28% has to be people who CANNOT be vaccinated due to their own risks of complications. They feel the same way a lot of older children who are still too young for the shots do: protect yourself AND me, get your shots!
I presume that any governmental vaccination mandate would include exceptions for valid medical reasons.
I’m wondering if the insurance companies might simply announce that medical costs associated with COVID-19 are not covered if the person is not vaccinated. The alternative would be for the stubbornly un-vaccinated to have to get a COVID-19 rider at additional cost.
IK, check out Jim Acosta’s comments do Ron “demented” Desantis referring to the governor’s policy on masks and schools.
“Perhaps it’s time to start naming these new variants that may be coming out after them,” Acosta said, referring to the GOP politicians. “Instead of the delta variant, why not call it the DeSantis variant?”
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/566881-cnns-jim-acosta-on-delta-variant-why-not-call-it-the-desantis-variant
“We can sell beer koozies that say ‘Don’t Florida my Fauci’ and use the money to pay for all the funerals in the days to come,” he added
It makes sense. Unvaccinated people want as many other people as possible to get vaccinated to protect them. If they are the only unvaccinated person in the room then no reason for them to be vaccinated right!?
This points to a larger emphasis on individualism that Trump has brought about. Why pay taxes when other people pay taxes for you? Why get drafted into the military when other people will fight for you? Why build road, bridge, train or bike trail that you personally won’t use? Why contribute to anything for the greater good when someone else will bear the brunt of the responsibility for you?
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[…] Knee at Political Irony looks at the data and discovers a weird part of unvaccinated opinion that few of us would suspect. […]